Wellesley gains drilling permit for North Sea wildcat

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Wellesley Petroleum a drilling permit for a wildcat well in the North Sea offshore Norway.

The well, designated 35/12-6 S, will be drilled from the Transocean Arctic drilling rig in production license 925, the NPD said on Monday.

The company has already received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use the Transocean Arctic rig for this well.

The drilling program for the well relates to the drilling of a wildcat in production license 925 operated by Wellesley Petroleum.

Wellesley Petroleum has an ownership interest of 90 percent while Concedo is a licensee with ten percent interest. The area in this permit consists of a part of blocks 35/9 and 35/12.

The directorate added that the well would be drilled about 14 kilometers southwest of the Gjøa field and 12 kilometers east of Byrding.

Production license 925 was awarded as part of APA 2017 licensing round on March 2, 2018. This is the first well to be drilled in the license.